May 25th: a New York City History Tour
Posted: May 25, 2013 | 12:53 AM
by Jared Goldstein
1878: Stage and screen song-and-dance man Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
was born in Va. He died 1949.
1879: America's first Cardinal, John McCloskey, dedicated the new St. Patrick's Cathedral after more than 20 years of construction.
James Renwick's gothic revival masterpiece is the centerpiece for American Catholics. Archbishop "Dagger" John Hughes was its visionary and guiding force. The cathedral's cost was $7 million, $70 million in today's value. The cathedral is undergoing a $70 million renovation in 2013, and G*d could use a large donation.
We experience this marvelous edifice on Catholic New York coach bus tours, James Renwick coach tours, and midtown mso tours or midtown step on tours.
1897: "Gene" Tunney World Heavyweight Champion boxer from 1926-1928, who defeated Jack Dempsey twice, in 1926 and 1927, born in Manhattan.
1898: Bennett Cerf the publisher who founded Random House, a punster, frequent What's My Line guest, businessman, humorist, and writer, born in Manhattan.
1926: Miles Davis,
the jazz trumpet genius born. He died Sept. 28, 1991.
1935: Baseball Hall of Famer Babe Ruth hit the 714th and final home run of his career.
1943: Actress Leslie Uggams born in NYC.
1944: Muppeteer and film director Frank Oz born in UK.
1950: The Brooklyn Battery Tunnel opened. At nearly two miles long, it's the United States' longest underwater motor vehicle crossing, and once the world's.
1951: Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays made his major league debut with the New York Giants.
1969: The film "Midnight Cowboy" opened at the Baronet Theater on the Upper East Side.
1975: Happy Birthday R&B singer, Lauryn Hill.
1979: Six-year-old Etan Patz disappeared in SoHo as he headed to school. He was one of the first of the missing children depicted on milk cartons. Decades later crazy drifters continue to emerge as suspects.